In the past, I post the first ranking of the season once every FBS team is connected to every other through wins and losses. Due to COVID-19, that threshold has only just been reached in the wake of the bowl season, as shown in the above diagram. As you can tell, unlike past years at this point, the relationship between conferences remains very fragmented. Additionally, the ranking is cumulative, so a team that played very few games, even if they won all of them, does not offer as much evidence to their “goodness” as a team that played a whole season, all things equal. While the SEC may have the best team, and a few group of five teams had good seasons, it appears the Big 12 was the best season top to bottom in the conference, perhaps evidenced by conference’s competitiveness.
Top 25 (Explanation; Full Ranking)
Alabama
Texas A&M
Ohio State
Ball State
Notre Dame
Buffalo
Clemson
San Jose State
Miami (OH)
Louisiana-Lafayette
Brigham Young
Coastal Carolina
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma
Iowa State
Texas
Cincinnati
Liberty
Georgia
Northwestern
West Virginia
Texas Christian
Nevada
Iowa
Florida